1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to protecting confidential information. In particular, the invention prevents insiders with high levels of computer access from accessing sensitive data.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer systems have long been used for processing sensitive information. Such systems typically include a database and a processor which manipulates large amounts of highly personal and confidential data. In order to protect outsiders from accessing the confidential data, fire walls and encryption systems are often used to prevent unauthorized access to the data. Examples of traditional systems and methods used to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data include such mechanisms as user authentication, access location restriction, and user level access controls. Although such systems are useful for preventing "outsiders" from accessing confidential data, these systems are typically unable to protect the data from "insiders" who have been granted high enough system access privileges to bypass the security controls. In particular, it is very difficult to deny a system administrator access to sensitive or confidential data.
System administrators who have a high level of access can typically access most data on the computer system. As data on the computer becomes increasingly sensitive and valuable, the system administrator or other "trusted insider" increasingly has incentives to defeat the protection mechanisms of the system and sell the confidential data. Thus, a system which is capable of storing confidential data in a form that is inaccessible to high-level computer administrators while still granting access to sensitive data to appropriate parties is needed.